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Thursday, January 31, 2013

Too busy! Too Wrong!

I had a gist over the weekend with
a friend on the
unhealthy drama of Office politics and I felt I should share someone’s
thoughts
on the matter.

In
Washington DC Metro Station on a cold January in 2007, a man with a
violin
played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes.

During that time,
approximately
two thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way
to work.

After
three minutes, a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing.
He slowed
his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried on to meet his
schedule.

Four
minutes later, the violinist received his first dollar; a woman threw
the money
in the hat and without stopping, continued to work.

Six
minutes after, a young man leaned against the wall to listen to him,
then
looked at his watch and started to walk again.

Ten
minutes after, a three-year old boy stopped, but his mother tugged him
along
hurriedly. The kid stopped to look the violinist again but the mother
pushed
hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time.

This action
was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception,
forced
their children to move on quickly.

Forty
five minutes after, the musician played continuously.

Only six people
stopped
and listened for a short while.

About twenty others gave money but
continued to
walk on at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.

One
hour later, he finished playing and silence took over.

No one noticed.

No one
applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this, but the
violinist
was Joshua Bell in disguise, one of the greatest musicians in the world.

He had
played one of the most intricate pieces ever written on a violin worth
$3.5
Million dollars.

Two days earlier, Joshua Bell had sold out all tickets
at a
theatre in Boston where the average seat cost $100.

This
is a true story.

Joshua playing incognito
in the metro station: this was organized by the Washington post as part
of a
social experiment about perception, taste and people’s priorities.

The
question
raised is this;that in a common place and at an inappropriate hour, do
we
perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in
an
unexpected circumstance?

One possible conclusion reached from this
experiment
is this- if we are so busy and
do not have a moment to listen to one of the
best musicians in the world playing some of the finest music ever
written with
one of the most beautiful instrument ever made, how many times are we
missing
out in the journey of life?

Let
us put another twist to this story.

Do you realize in your place of
work,
business or school you can be too busy complaining about a situation, a
student,
a customer or colleague that you lose the opportunity to connect with
someone
of great worth.

You can be too busy ‘beefing’
a friend, neighbor or even passers-by that you missed the opportunity to
connect with the next governor.

If
you knew the destiny of the person sitting next to you in the bus, place
of
worship, office, market, cinema, stadium, restaurant, or just anywhere, would you treat them differently?